With Godzilla: King Of The Monsters only a few months away and Godzilla vs. Kong in production, there is not a whole lot of news. However, there are other movies that are in development that I have not reported. Movies that we talked about briefly and others nobody ever knew about. So what monster movies should we expect? The answer is not a whole lot.
CLOVERFIELD 2: THE SEQUEL
Cloverfield is one of the many movies that fans have been waiting for a sequel to ever since 2008. 10 Cloverfield Lane set up the series to be like the Twilight Zone or a series of anthology films that would setup a cinematic universe called the Cloververse. Despite being a really decent movie, 10 Cloverfield Lane was just not what people expected and asked for. They wanted answers as to where the monster in the first movie came from. When word got out that the working title, God Particle, was going to be the next movie in the series there was next to no news shortly after and there was a long wait until The Cloverfield Paradox was revealed during the Super Bowl last year. The TV spot showed promise that it would answer the questions that fans have been asking for. The result was more than disappointment as it left many viewers with more questions than answers. Months after the movie's release, J. J. Abrams teased the idea of a "true sequel" to Cloverfield and now there has been no word on its production since then. While I would like to see an actual sequel to Cloverfield I am not really counting on it becoming a reality. In recent news, Abrams is signed on to film Star Wars IX and his production studio, Bad Robot, is about to part ways with Paramount. Paramount was disappointed that Overlord and The Cloverfield Paradox under performed and despite extending their agreement to make a movie for Paramount, Abrams decided to make his second Star Wars film instead. It is reported that Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., and Apple are competing to win him and his studio over. So if a new Cloverfield movie is in production right now it would have to come out some time this year. Otherwise, Paramount will have to either look for someone else to continue making the films or scrap the Cloverfield series altogether. There was a script that was found for a movie called Dark on a website called The Black List. It's a website where screen-writers can show off their unproduced screenplays. The script's story is about this crew on an oil rig encountering a creature that awakens from constant drilling. This sounds like a movie that could fit in with this series, but the monster in the script is described nothing like the monster in the first movie. The financier is Paramount Pictures, but the production company is Platinum Dunes. So it makes me wonder if Paramount is looking for a monster movie to replace Cloverfield or if they are giving Cloverfield to someone else. Or maybe there won't be another movie at all. Only time will tell if it is happening or not. If you would like to read the script for Dark, then scroll down to the bottom and click on the link.
MONSTER HUNTER
A United Nations military team are sent through a portal to another dimension where humans must fight off giant monsters to survive. The two groups must work together to prevent any of the monsters from entering the portal to prevent an invasion on Earth.
This movie is based off the video game of the same name. It is being directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and stars his wife/actress Milla Jovovich. The husband and wife duo have been making movies together ever since Resident Evil, which is another video game movie. Most of what this director makes are films based on video games. He directed Mortal Kombat, the Resident Evil series, Alien vs Predator, Pompeii (this is not a video game movie) and was the producer for DOA: Dead or Alive. However, his movies were not well received and tend to flop. Upon hearing the news that he will be making Monster Hunter and seeing set photos for this movie there was a lot of backlash from fans of the game series. The world the game sets in is more of a fantasy world and the main character of the games depends on the class that you choose. Your weapons are usually a sword or a giant hammer and you are hunting these monsters so you can upgrade your weapons and armor so you can fight bigger and tougher monsters. This is my opinion and I could be wrong, but I find that there is not much of a story to work with in these games. So coming up with a movie based on a game that has very little to no story is difficult. I don't mind seeing some creative liberties and changes to make the movie, but how much change is too much? I am on the fence about the whole military going to an alternate world idea, but I can't really say until I see a trailer. Maybe it will turn out like Rampage where it's a pretty good monster movie, but not a good video game adaptation. I can't really say more until I see the movie with my own eyes.
MONSTERPOCALYPSE
This one movie is another one that is based on a game. However, this is based on a series of board games rather than a series of video games. The board game is about humans piloting giant robots fighting against giant monsters. So a lot of creativity can be done with this movie. There is only one problem; Monsterpocalypse has been in development hell since 2010. The first attempt at making a movie was made by Tim Burton. During the early development stages, all development stalled after Guillermo Del Toro released Pacific Rim in 2013, which was also about humanity fighting giant monsters by using giant robots. It was originally due for a 2012 release. In 2016, Warner Bros. won the bid for the movie rights for Monsterpocalypse and the director of the Evil Dead remake, Fede Alvarez, was attached to the project. In all honesty, this looks like Warner Bros. only won the bid because Legendary Pictures took Pacific Rim with them when they started partnership with Universal and Monsterpocalypse seemed like an ideal replacement. It's now 2019 and there has been no word on this movie's development. Perhaps Warner Bros. is just waiting until after Godzilla vs Kong is released. This would give them enough time to plan out how to make the movie and it would give monster movie fans something else to look forward to while the hype for Godzilla vs Kong is fresh. So this one I will keep my eyes peeled for any other news that develops.
THE MEG 2
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water the prehistoric shark is back to terrorize some more. After The Meg made a total of $528 million in the box office, it was announced in November that the sequel is in the works. Executive producer, Catherine Xujun Ying, reported to Variety that it's in the very early stages, but they just started working on the film. She even went on talking about a possible theme park attraction for the franchise. The Meg is based on a series of 8 books written by Steve Alten. I never read the books, but I heard from people that did read them were disappointed that it didn't follow the book otherwise the movie would have been a dark and serious film. Some even claiming that it would have been this generations Jaws if it was done right. However, I remember liking this movie for being so fun to watch. My only wish is that it didn't try to appeal so much to the Chinese audience. That is the only fault the movie had since it was being so blatantly obvious. This is a discussion that I will have for another time, but it was not just in this movie. It happened in other movies as well. So that's a discussion for another time. Other than that, I really enjoyed the first film and I hope that whatever comes out of the second film actually does follow the books.
Those are all the movies that are currently in development. One is on hiatus at the moment and the other is unknown on whether it is still happening or not. It would be better to scrap Cloverfield altogether, but if it can be salvaged some how then I think a proper reboot would be the way to go. However, I would also like to see more original ideas rather than just relying on sequels and movies based on a book or game. Usually original ideas are harder to sell since they are not based on an existing property, which is why we keep seeing more Godzilla and King Kong. Yet, movies like Pacific Rim and Cloverfield could have been great franchises to introduce the newer generation of fans if the sequel movies (Pacific Rim: Uprising, 10 Cloverfield Lane, and The Cloverfield Paradox) didn't take such a nose dive when they were in production. In the meantime, I am very interested to see just how Monsterpocalypse and The Meg 2 develops and I hope we hear more very soon.
Which of these movies are you most excited for? Were there any movies that I missed? Make sure to leave a comment in the comment section. Make sure to follow me on my Facebook page and Twitter to stay up to date for more news, reviews, and discussions.
Sources:
The Black List: 2018 lists
Deadline: Bad Robot: Sizing The Field As Race To Land J J Abrams' Business Enters Home Stretch
Cinema Blend: Monsterpocaylpse Finally Finds Its New Director
Coming Soon: Warner Bros. To Produce Adaptation Of Monsterpocalypse Board Game
Variety: The Meg Heads For Franchise Status As Sequel, Theme Parks Eyed
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